Q: Late 2006 iMac, Lines, Kernel Panic, Freeze, Reboot, Restart, Serial W8 ?

+1

it´s a shame the way apple "cares" the non idevice customers right now.

Yep, I remember when they used to make computers.
I don't a mobile phone and never will, they just dont interst me. But a computer that works? Ah, now that is a beautiful thing to own. Too bad Apple sold us down the river with the 2006 iMac in favour of chasing the wallets of teeagers who just want to fart around on YouTube all day.

Apple had to listen to me - I threatened them with court action. I've documented my entire experience here: http://bit.ly/108has6

I ended up getting a brand new 2011 iMac. It was long process but it paid off.

I talked to Apple's Maria Deffense (I think she is the representative of customer support in Spain-Portugal) and after several emails (I even referred to your case) and calls, she concluded that "my mac was too old to be repaired for free" and that "I had to found some 'unofficial' place to fix it", because it would be very expensive to go to an Authorised Apple Technical Service.

Great...

I have a 2006 Mac mini which just started doing what everybody is talking about. I also have a 17" iMac 2007 which has the vertical lines in the screen making it useless.

I have read that the integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics processor and later video sections are the problem.

I think the problem is caused by either a bad design and/or a poor manufacturing procedure. These are NOT isolated occurrences. Rather, there's a whole lot of unhappy Apple users out there.

Everywhere I look at used intel Macs for sale, I see nothing but problem units or threads like this one...What's wrong with my Mac?

I went for years without a problem with Apple products until I purchased a $1000 AV1710 monitor/ 60 lb anchor with Apple's name on it. (There's a story)

Since then, I have had few problems until now....and now, I'm afraid to buy a new Mac of any kind. (Thought I would never say that).

You used to be able to compare the Maytag repair man to those having to fix Macs. Not anymore.

I think a class action suit is in order because there are just so many peeps left holding the bag because of Apple's design flaws with these similar products with similar problems.

BTW:  I have my first 1984 Mac as well as a 1987 SE. Both still run

never mind

I'm going to try to ask Apple Store to fix it fro free, but in the meantime

re overheating GPU, I've disabled the graphics card by copying the file

/System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext

to my desktop and deleting the original. 

I've reduced my fan speeds to normal; so far so good.

I don't watch movies on this computer anyway, so not much lost.

Doesn't seem much point in owning a high performance Mac if you're gonna disable the graphics card. Watching movies is the least of my problems.

Well, let's keep in mind that we're discussing iMacs that are six-seven years old. They're not so "high performance" at this point.

I, too, did what patentlawyer did: I diabled the graphics card. While I won't be able to watch movies, as noted, or even use apps like iMovie, I am now ABLE to use my Adobe applications, browse the web, and even watch movies and TV shows via Netflix and Hulu.

Is this an acceptable solution? In my mind, yes and no. Sure, I wish Apple would do something about this issue. At this point, though, I don't know what. The machine is old -- even ancient by computer standards. I personally don't want to invest any money into it for a new graphics card, especially since many times it's shown not to solve the problem.

For now, I can use my machine for work, use it as a media server, and get work done. It's not the best; it's not the worst. It is a seven-year-old machine, though.

T.

I think iMacs in general are not what they once was. I bought an iMac (mid 2011) about a year ago and I already had to bring it for repairment three times. First the HDD was faulty, then the motherboard got corrupted, then the display developed the infamous dark stains and finally the graphics card died. On top of all of this when I wrote about this and how bad the product is the admin deleted my post immediately calling it a rant. Really???

Add me to the list too... W8720xxxxxx.  I have two of these machines with the GPU problem.  It started about 2 years ago and gradually go worse on both.  I agree with Pmania here...Apple quality is really declined in my mind.  I'm scared to buy a new one because of my experience and what I read about others.  This is obvously a known hardware issue and Apple has turned a blind eye to it.

Add me to the list too. Another 6+ year old imac starting to break down. It's been a great machine to be fair and never had any issues with it until now. I did however notice that this issue only occours when the room I work in is hot. I'm in need of a new machoine, but also a bit nervous to take the plunge on a new iMac which by the looks of it is still suffering from these same types of issues.

The same thing happened to me (comment pulled and called a 'rant').  Seems someone is a bit 'testy' when it comes to truth-saying .  Why have a fourm if your comment is going to be deleted if it says anything negative?  Aren't we looking at the issues and trying to get help for common problems?  My 'rant' only asked if Apple intended to do anything about all the faulty machines.

it looks that the mid 2011 27" imac has this very same problem and they are going to replace the faulty cards three years after the purchase of the computer.

i guess replacing whole motherboard was too much for them in our case.

See my post below Tish, someone deleted it last week so I've just posted it again to see what happens. Why would someone want to silence us Apple fans for simply trying to get some justice for a faulty component on an otherwise brilliantly loveable product? Something stinks here, and it ain't us.